Pictures from Phoenix and sometimes from the surrounding cities that make up the "Valley of the Sun"

Tuesday, January 5, 2010

Big Mamma Turk’s Cap

Here is an unusual flower with an unusual name. It's called Big Mamma Turk's Cap and I found it at the Desert Botanical Garden. The technical name for this flower is Malvaceae. Having never heard of this flower before, I did a little research and found that it was hybridized by someone named G. Grant and it was first registered in 2005. That would make it a fairly new plant form.

I think it was the "Big Mamma" variety that was recently hybridized because Turk's Cap has been grown for generations in the South. My grandmother and several of my aunts (some of whom have been deceased for nearly half a century) had it in their gardens. easttexasgardening.tamu.edu says it is a bush native to Texas and Mexico. It is definitely a beautiful plant with its dark green heart-shaped leaves. My mother has one from a cutting from one of her sisters who died many years ago and a friend a few years back brought her a cutting of one that bears a pink flower. I like the bright red ones best!